Hidden Photo
by Kelkale
Summary: He had hid the picture under his bed and taken it out every night to stare at the smiling face, curious of the strange emotions it stirred up inside. (FujiRyoma) (FujiTezuka)


Hidden Photo

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. It's on my list of things I want and will never get. Sigh.

Summary: He had hid the picture under his bed and taken it out every night to stare at the smiling face, curious of the strange emotions it stirred up inside. Part of him always wondered why he even needed that picture. Fuji/Ryoma and Fuji/Tezuka

Ok well this is my first Prince of Tennis fic so if you want to run in the other direction, start now before it's too late.

If you're still here, thank you for staying. Enjoy reading and tell me what you think afterwards.

Hidden Photo

He had hid the picture under his bed, stuffed in a box with all his tennis video games. He took it out every night to stare at the smiling face, curious of the strange emotions it stirred up inside. The edges of the picture were worn and tearing from his abuse but he doubted he could get a replacement without too many meddling sempais asking questions. So he was careful.

Part of him always wondered why he even needed that picture. The boy already had a team photo from their mountain-climbing experience which he prominently displayed on the table behind his bed, so why the extra photo of one of his teammates? And why the secrecy? Was there something wrong with this second picture that he had to hide it from his family and teammates? He slowly went over every inch of the photo, from upper left corner of bright blue sky to the lower right edge where a tennis racquet was held. Nothing screamed embarrassing or disturbing. The picture on a whole had a pleasant feeling for him, and he could never stop the corners of his mouth from twitching upwards in the glimmer of a smile every time he looked. Maybe it was a comfort for him.

But there were days when he hated that picture. On the nights he had come back from playing a game with his sempai and the older boy had just strung him along while he had tried to play his hardest. Those were the worst. He got the feeling that his teammate never took him seriously and somehow that upset him more than he wanted to admit. On those days he would go home and the face in the picture would be laughing at him, taunting that he might be a genius at tennis but he would never catch up to him. Those nights he found it hard to not rip the picture into tiny shreds, but he knew that come tomorrow, he would want it back. And he always did.

There had never been a night where he didn't look at that picture. From the day that he stumbled upon the picture in Sakuno's photo album and "borrowed it" to last night when he spread out his English homework on the bed around the picture so he could glance at it while he studied, he had formed a ritual. So it felt all the more strange when he broke his ritual that night. The photo remained with his addicting video games and he tried hard to concentrate instead on his homework. It was hard to keep his mind distracted that night. His mind kept drifting under his bed to a certain box, and his head filled with images of a certain smiling tensai, with shocking blue eyes that only appeared from surprise and anger. Fuji-sempai had opened his eyes that afternoon at practice.

It had been at the end of practice when the rest of team was already inside changing out of their uniforms when he had come upon his sempai talking to their buchou. What they were talking about he had no idea and didn't want to know but he stopped as he noticed Fuji-sempai chuckle softly and lay a hand on Tezuka-buchou's arm. A comfortable silence seemed to pass between them until slowly Tezuka leaned down and brushed his lips against Fuji's. The smaller boy opened his eyes in surprise and then smiled again, letting go of Tezuka's arm and slowly walking away. Tezuka stood still for a moment before following. He walked the other way.

He never looked at the picture again after that night. He couldn't find the strength to tear it up or throw it away so he left it buried under his bed. His father wondered why he gave up playing video games. He took the news of Tezuka and Fuji's breakup two years later calmly, telling himself that the event had absolutely no affect on him. The hopeful pang in his heart betrayed him.

He screamed and cursed until he was hoarse at his father when he found out the idiot had tossed out his box of video games under his bed. As the old man grumbled about inconsiderate children behind him, he longed for the worn photo and smiling face he had left behind.

It was two weeks to the day that he heard about the breakup when his cousin called him downstairs with a knowing smile on her face. "You have company," she answered simply when he asked. Fuji-sempai had not changed at all since they had been together at school. The smile on his face was still present, but this time his eyes were open. The tensai watched him carefully as he took out a photo from a bag he had brought and offered it to him. "I hear you lost a very important photo for you Echizen. Would you like this one as a replacement?"

He stared curiously at the photo and his own eyes widened at the image, almost a perfect replica of the one he had lost. Fuji-sempai was older in the picture, but so was he. Unconsciously he reached out to "borrow" this new photo, knowing he could never let it out of his grasp now that he had really looked at it. Fuji-sempai, however, had other plans.

With a chuckle the tensai pulled back his hand and the photo, shaking his finger at him. "Saa not so fast Echizen. This is an expensive picture to buy. I have several conditions if you want this picture. First, you have to actually display this picture in a frame in your room. That means somewhere other people can see it. Second, if I'm going to give you a picture of me, it's only fair I get one of you. After all, this is your second picture of me, so I should probably get two shots of you at least. Third condition I'll tell you after our date," Fuji-sempai lectured as he pulled out a camera from his bag and snapped a shot of the younger boy gaping like a fish out of water. "Saa Echizen you need to work on smiling for the camera."

He never had to worry about a shortage of pictures after that day. However he quickly came to the realization that a picture was just a pale comparison to having the real thing in your bed every night.

End

Although he was still mad at Fuji-sempai for indirectly being the cause of his lost video games.


End file.
